[MUD-Dev] Chatting in MMPORPGs

[Eric Lee {RAT}]

Peter Tyson wrote:

> Am I the only one who finds the inability to identify speakers
> annoying? :) And how do you overcome it?!

I totally agree with your description of the problem.  Frankly, I
think a top-down graphical system like UO is probably the best
approach for allowing players to match chat text with character.  I
can't think of an easy way to duplicate it in a 3D-oriented system.
Sure, you can still put chat text over character's heads in a 3D
system, but since you can only see the people in front of you,
you're deaf to whomever is behind you.

One feature that would help to reduce the pain of the problem
(though not eliminate it) would be to allow the player to
double-click on a line of text in the chat window, and automatically
select and/or turn to face the character who said it.  It's not a
perfect fix, but at least if you see something like, "Selling a Wand
of Ultimate Doom, cheap!" in the chat window, you can find the
speaker without having to examine every character in the entire
area.

Eric Lee
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